Fondly remembered by country fans, La Costa Tucker was Tanya Tucker's older sister, although she dropped the family name on her own records, just going by "LaCosta." She came out the gate running, riding the wave of her sister's success, but while she recorded several well-regarded albums in the 1970s, LaCosta's career stalled and she slowly slipped off the charts by decade's end. Here's a quick look at her career...
La Costa (Tucker) "Get On My Love Train" (Capitol Records, 1974) (LP)
(Produced by Norro Wilson)
This was LaCosta's first album, including her big hit, "Get On My Love Train" (which peaked at #3 on the Country charts) and the follow-up, "He Took Me For A Ride," which hit #10. After this promising start, La Costa slowly crept down the ladder, first into the Top 20, then the Top 40, and finally into the Back Forty before Capitol dropped her at the decade's end. But if you're searching for some missing-years, disco-era country music, and want to hear La Costa's biggest hits, this album is definitely worth checking out. The production features the nice, clean, round-toned, mildly funky, no-nonsense melodic studio style of Norro Wilson, who also co-wrote over half the songs on here, including several penned with the little-remembered Carmol Taylor, who was one of the great unknowns of mid-'70s Top Forty Nashville. LaCosta had a nice voice (a lot like Tanya's though less edgy) though the material here tends towards the romantic/erotic, with Tucker taking on various passive female roles.
La Costa (Tucker) "With All My Love" (Capitol Records, 1975) (LP)
(Produced by Norro Wilson)
La Costa (Tucker) "Lovin' Somebody" (Capitol Records, 1976) (LP)
(Produced by Jerry Crutchfield)
La Costa (Tucker) "LaCosta" (Capitol Records, 1977) (LP)
(Produced by Doug Gilmore)
An interesting lineup on here... Several members of Elvis Presley's TCB Band (and later the Emmylou Harris Hot Band) are on board: bassist Emery Gordy Jr., pianist Glen Hardin and James Burton on guitar, as well as Sonny Curtis and Randy Sharp, among others...
La Costa (Tucker) "Changin' All The Time" (Capitol Records, 1980) (LP)
(Produced by Ken Mansfield & Bill Bottrell)
LaCosta & Tanya Tucker "Sisters: An Anthology" (Renaissance Records, 2000)
This is an under-the-radar reissue that's well worth looking for, since it's the only CD (so far) that collects material from LaCosta half-dozen mid-'70s LPs. LaCosta never quite cut loose the way her little sister did, but there's a strong vocal similarity and LaCosta also had a strong, true-country soulful streak that makes these tunes worth checking out. This disc collects nine of her fine mid-level chart hits, all but one of which are pretty good, in a pop-meets-country kinda way. The remainder of the CD is filled with some of Tanya's later recordings on Capitol, from the late '80s and early '90s. Again, it's pretty good material for the times, but it is kinda unfortunate that they didn't just go ahead and make this a straight-up LaCosta album, since the back-and-forth programming is kinda weird. (Also, I'm sure there must be a nice trove of lesser known LaCosta album cuts to be mined as well... But in the meantime, this disc gives a pretty good sense of what the gal could do.) Recommended!
